Former GN’R Bassist Leaves Jane’s Addiction for Solo Career

Duff McKagan, best known for playing with [lastfm]Guns N’ Roses [/lastfm] (and having the coolest name ever) , recently spent some time in the recording studio with Perry Farrell and [lastfm]Jane’s Addiction[/lastfm]. Will their material ever see the light of day?

McKagan left GN’R after drug abuse lead to his pancreas erupting in 1994. Always a fighter, the bassist picked up his ax and formed [lastfm]Velvet Revolver [/lastfm]with Slash in 2002. Although the supergroup disbanded in 2008, McKagan was far from finished. He spent the next two years touring with his new band, [lastfm]Loaded[/lastfm]. This guy doesn’t want to stop!

Farrell, a long-time admirer of McKagan‘s work, invited the bassist to help write and record new material for Jane’s Addiction. The ensemble wrote a slew of new songs, but after five months it was apparent that something wasn’t clicking. The bass player announced his departure shortly after the recording began.

In a music industry riddled with drama and scandals, it is nice to know that there are no hard feelings between the artists. We read in an email Farrell sent out:

“Hey we wanted to thank Duff for helping us write songs for our new record. We love the songs we worked on with him — and the gigs were a blast — but musically we were all headed in different directions. From here Duff is off to work on his own stuff so we wish him all the best.”

Best of luck, Duff Man. Wait, somebody else already took that name? Damn.